shamba'd.

This last week has been quite the week.... it seemed like everything went wrong.

Tuesday Rebecca and I were excited because we were going to take pictures of where Martha works- she works at the medical school as a cleaning women- when we got there though she had already finished her work so we just sat down and talked with her. She told us her story and it is incredible! She is an amazing woman. She wants to start a casava business and has everything worked out but just doesn't have the start up capital. She doesn't know about the 1000 Shillings website yet, but we hope that the money she earns from selling necklaces will help her reach her goal! When we were leaving we saw a big pile of rusty beds sitting outside, we are building the clinic in bunabuyoka and happen to need hospital beds so we decided to ask if we could have one. We got as the Ugandans like to say "tossed about" a lot. We were sent from one office to the next and then told we had to come back later. Meanwhile we are just walking around the hospital which is insane! There are no real waiting rooms and everyone is just outside chillin- open wounds, IV ports coming out of little kid's heads and then the maternity ward just out in the open...could have potentially been very traumatizing but luckily I saw nothing... the mental hospital is also just in the middle and there were a bunch of guys in all white handcuffed together that was super shutter island and creepster... basically we didn't get the beds...

After that fail we decided to go try the milkshakes at the internet cafe that everyone had been talking about... even bringing Ashley to tears...and it's true they were dang good... first real ice cream i've had since i've been here... the let down was I immediately noticed the coconut ripping my chest apart.. I of course wasn't carrying any medicine so I just went across the street to the shiv (a supermarket) and got some water. It wasn't my worst reaction but not great. We had meetings the rest of the day so I went to those without getting any medicine. I went to institute that night and my reaction was getting worse so I kind of wanted a blessing but no one was there to give me one. I said a little prayer that maybe the elders would show up so they could give me one but they never go to institute - I was so surprised when I walked out the door and they were standing there! An appointment had fallen through and they had just stopped by. It was really cool. Also after receiving the blessing my reaction ended and didn't continue into the next day as usual.

Wednesday we went back to Martha's work to try and video her awesome story. BIG FAIL. Rebecca and I realized that we are NOT videographers. It was the worst. I can't even tell you how bad it was. We tried with different cameras later that day at beading and still a fail. All you can hear is birds CA CAW CA CAW! Super annoying. Then the beads the women had were covered in dirt with bugs dried into them... so we decided we needed to paint the paper for them first because they don't have room in their 1 room huts to dry a bunch of paper... the paint we used took FOREVER to get off our hands not to mention dry- and Cam and I had to sleep in the living room because the paint fumes were so bad and I had delirious dreams about getting malaria because I wasn't sleeping under a net! Ha.

Thursday we went to Kamonkoli and Kakoli as always (the urine project) we were supposed to have a guest speaker but he didn't show up!! It was terrible. We had to wing it for 2 hrs and had nothing prepared! Beading made the day better though. Our women were so excited and a lot of the necklaces are really coming together! Rebecca and I got really sick though and I'm not sure why...

Friday I was sick all day.. I was throwing up and it was not nice. It's the weirdest feeling though because i'm super hungry but then when I eat anything it's the worst.

Today we went to play soccer at the church and were shamba'd turns out it was the church clean up instead haha.

Even though things get frustrating here, i'm still so excited to be here and I love (almost) every minute of it. Rebecca and I just keep laughing when we have days like that saying when we look back at our "beginnings" as 1000 Shillings we are going to have the best stories!

Faces of Namatala

I freaking love the people of Namatala. Today we went in and just wandered around and took pictures to use for the photojournalism part of 1000 Shillings.  It was one of the best days I have had since I have been here. I forget about how special the people of the slum are- they are living in less than desirable circumstances but find joy in the little things. I mean just take a look at the picture above and try and tell me you didn't smile. If you ever have a bad day you can just look at this chunk of a baby and he will make you laugh! I can't get over this picture!!

This is an example of one of the bigger houses in Namatala. We went and talked to all of the bead ladies today and literally their houses were smaller than most walk in closets in the United States.  Elizabeth (below) showed me her house and what you see is the entire thing... there are 2 beds touching in an L shape and then that huge pile of beans there drying in the middle of the room- that's it. She sleeps there with her 6 kids. I have no idea where they all sleep- they range in age I think she said from 3-14. She is holding the paper that she painted to make beads with! It was so awesome to just drop in unannounced and see all the ladies beading! They really are dedicated which makes us hope this business works all the more!  I really want to make this work for them! They all have dreams of opening their own businesses and I want to help them reach that goal!

 I love this. He was trying so hard to do his job of taking care of the calf... I can't believe how small he was and how big his responsibility was.

 

This little boy was just carrying around this roll of film- the photographer in me freaked out a bit at the sight of his little fingers on the negatives- but then I just thought it was cute. Pretty much anything goes for toys here.

 Carmen here is ALWAYS hanging out around Child of Hope. She is really cute- but really clingy. She would not leave my side today for even a minute as we were walking around trying to take pictures - which PS was way successful and we have a ton of awesome ones! - whenever I would try and take a picture I would have to drop her hand and she would start to whine/cry a bit. She is a funny girl.

Little Ado is Ida's daughter a is FEISTY. She is the cutest. She reminds me of Hannah actually- she knows she is cute and definitely plays into it.

I know I have been spamming this site but we are so close! Only 130 to go and 35 hours! The money helps to buy these amazing people water filters! Clean water is scarce in Namatala. It is hard to find and expensive when you do. We want to give these people the opportunity to have clean water just like everyone else!
http://www.indiegogo.com/buildingthefutureuganda?a=483184

Donate if you can!! 

1000 Shillings!!!!

Great news on the bead front!! These women are amazing! They are so excited and motivated to make the necklaces. We started working with them to improve the designs of their necklaces and it is better than anticipated! They look great! Last year the women were taught how to make paper beads but then were left with no market to sell them in. Here in Mbale and surrounding areas, the market is pretty saturated. So the women of Namatala had this new skill but they had no place to sell and became super discouraged. Our goal was to help them differentiate themselves and gain new skills. Then we decided we wanted to give them access to a global marketplace and have decided to start a business! We have named it 1000 Shillings (the amount of money the families in Namatala live off a day - about $0.40) . This new international market will give these women the opportunity to supplement their incomes.  We also want to be able to tell the story of each of these women and their families and communities. It will be like a travel magazine mixed with an ecommerce site. 

Meet the ladies!!!  

This is Veronica, she is the happiest lady ever! I love her smile! She is so willing to learn and is easy to laugh. We had the opportunity on Saturday to go and see her house and meet her family. Her husband left her awhile back and we couldn't distinguish quite how many children she actually has but she takes care of at least 10 kids. The kids were out working in the field and we got to go visit them and see them at work.

This is Ida. She is our rock star! She is the only one of the ladies that had continued from last year. She has been making beads and trying to sell them in her spare time (which isn't a lot). She picked the most complicated of the designs we offered and is doing super well! Her necklace had 730 beads! She is very dedicated and wants to own her own business one day. I really think she can. She tries to sell charcoal now but most of the time doesn't make a profit. We want to start teaching them business skills so that one day Ida and the rest of the women will be able to stand on their own as confident business women.

This is Esther. She is so funny. She loves to laugh and was so proud of her first necklace. She has been living in Namatala since her husband "chased her out" as she told me. She speaks English but is super shy. She was my partner this last week and we put this necklace together as a team! When it's finished the top with have a leather strap or possibly braided african fabric. We are really excited about this one!

Martha came out of nowhere! The first time we met with the bead ladies there were only 5 of them. Then one day Martha showed up and we are happy to have her! She is so on top of the game that when we met last not only had she completed her homework of making enough beads for her assigned necklace- but she had already varnished them! She is also quick to smile and has really good English. We got to meet all of her kids on Saturday as well. It was really cool to talk to them and see their mom's influence. She is a great asset to 1000 Shillings!

 This is Elizabeth, I admit we were a little worried about her at first- but she has turned out to be a front runner! I love her necklace! Rebecca was paired up with her last week and they had a lot of fun making what we affectionately call The Elizabeth. She is very shy and timid at first and then opens up and loves laughing with the women. I think the women appreciate this time together beading- maybe it helps them to forget for just a minute.

This is Annette. I absolutely love her. She is so friendly and has one of the cutest babies in the world! She is always wearing that neon green do-rag (spelling?) and it makes me laugh. She is usually right on time for our meetings (which is a definite accomplishment in uganda! ugandans tend to be at least an hour late! admittedly!)

These women are so great and I am excited to start being able to sell their stuff. It will make such a huge difference in their lives! Hopefully rent, school fees, food, and running their businesses won't be so much of a problem anymore! Plus I think I might of found something that I would actually be happy doing with my life... as seen by past experiences i'm not really great at staying in one place- but right now I have a yr and a half plan and I don't even feel claustrophobic about it! I get to combine my love of traveling with my love of photography. We want to branch out to different countries and spotlight collections from different women's groups all over the world. Rebecca has connections in Nepal so we want to start there after Uganda, but are also interested in going to women in the United States, as well as Mexico for this year. I'm excited for the opportunity to tell these women's stories- the aim is to let you get to know her as I have. I think this is such a cool concept! So...stay tuned!

SIMON!

Let me tell you about Simon... He is my new best friend. I had noticed this kid around before... how could I not? Look at that as the Ugandans would call it "smart jacket". He is always wearing it! He looks like a little man and is so funny. He reminds me of Dante a little bit with his facial expressions and when he is pretending to flirt with the girls and what not. He is 9 years old and the coolest kid. I learned a little bit about his background and it is heartbreaking. 

Simon comes from a very abusive home, his father used to beat him and his siblings very badly. CFAI found them and came to their aid. He is one of the children that CFAI (they are our partner in building the clinic in Bunabuyoka) has kind of taken in as their own. He lives at the bottom of the mountain now with his siblings and mother and his father is not around. Everyday Simon walks 3 miles up what you all know I like to call the hell hill just to go to school. He is a very dedicated student. His teacher, Jared (aka attractive teacher), told me he is one of the best in the class. He came up to me one night and pulled on my arm after we had been working all day and shyly whispered that he was hungry. It was heartbreaking. I literally had no food because we eat what the village feeds us. A little while later the men were eating posho and I tried to get Simon to go get some but he told me they said no. So I walked him over hand in hand and used my mzungu skills to get him a plate. I wish everything was that easy! 

When I asked Simon what he wanted to be when he grew up he said a pilot! He wants to be able to fly to America someday. Children here often don't have very lofty goals for themselves. They don't dream of what they want to become because- in all reality it probably won't happen. School fees are out of control. It is more expensive to go to university here than BYU tuition is. These people just don't have the money. Even high school in about $200 a term! The government doesn't sponsor schools so the kids have to basically pay the teachers. I am so happy that Simon has a dream! I really hope he does it!

I wish I had one of those little kids airplane wings that I could pin on his little man jacket and I can just envision his Lifetime movie now... He keeps the future pilot pin his whole life as inspiration to become a real life pilot and then one day when his dreams come true he flies to America as promised and comes to visit me! Ha if only it were so easy!!

I have also decided that he is going to marry Hailey (my niece). I even showed him a picture of her and he obviously didn't understand what I was saying but just kind of laughed... I think they would be perfect! 

Oh yeh best part is... he remembers my name! Ugandans as a whole STRUGGLE with my name. They just can't say it! Well Simon calls me lex! and he came up with it all on his own! Ok it is more like "lak" but we are working on it :) . It is the cutest thing ever! When we are carrying sand up a mountain or passing bricks to build the clinic he is always eager to stand right next to me. These kids are SO strong! Where we struggle lifting the sand and carrying it to the next person in our line to the top of the mountain they practically run it! We literally couldn't build the clinic without their help! They are our best helpers! and are eager for the results!

Moral of the story- I love this kid. I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet such a strong little boy who still has a dream even after such a rough life at just age 9. If he can do it, I can do it. 

We gooooo We go!

This weekend we went to a Uganda Cranes game! I was so stoked out of my mind to go... and lets just say it wasn't everything I expected in skill for a world cup qualifying match... it was kind of like watching a high school soccer game... a little frustrating haha. BUT the atmosphere was like nothing I have ever experienced! Everyone was so happy and ridiculously loud! The main chant is "We go, we go, Uganda Cranes we go!" We saw this great shirt trying to depict that.... I feel like they didn't quite get it right... maybe with a few more o's it wouldn't be so weird...

It was so crazy, even just standing outside the stadium everyone was so excited. The people were just so happy! With so little to be happy about here- the people really pull together and get excited for their cranes! Practically everyone was wearing a jersey or a version of the Ugandan flag! It was awesome. Freddy (in the hat) is real cool. He has been so nice to us and has helped our group a lot since we have been here. He is a radio DJ and just a good guy. He got us the tickets to the game and showed us around. He told us that these  guys with him were witch doctors and they were doing rituals so that the cranes would win! Ha! They were coming up to people with these shells with ashes on them and waving them around and touching us. It was insane. There was a mob of people and we were surrounded! Super loud and super crazy!

 The fans were so excited! It was the best part of the game. Everyone was so supportive of the team....even though neither team was that great... we (i say we as if i'm ugandan...i was wearing a jersey i guess) were playing Senegal... we tied 1-1. The end was actually pretty intense. There was just a ton of sloppy fouls the entire game...

After the game was crazy too! There were so many people leaving the stadium and everyone was blowing their horns and singing and dressed up super crazy and occasionally terrifying. We went to the bathroom before leaving - it is a 4 hour drive from Kampala to Mbale...that's right we drove 8 hrs in one day for an hr and a half game- worth it. Anyways bathroom... I know everyone loves a good bathroom story... so we couldn't find the girls bathroom so Holly told us we had to go in the men's and that it's normal and there was stalls in the end of the bathroom so we just had to walk passed the trough that the men were using as a urinal nbd. As soon as we went in there the men were like "mzungu! this is gents!" but we persevered! There were other women in there after all... and believe me we weren't looking! The bathrooms were less than sanitary... but did the same job...even if the toilets were overflowing and by toilets i mean squatters... I took a picture of Mallory, Sam, and Cami and I had my creeper lens on (it's huge) so i could barely take the picture we were so close together and they fill the whole frame- but when the flash went off guys started yelling at me... as if i'd want any of that... haha. yikes. 

When we came out of the bathroom all the sudden I look over and Freddy is beating a man up with his yellow horn! Turns out this man was trying to steal a cell phone from another one of the mzungus that were with us... Freddy is a good guy, but Ugandans in general are intolerant of stealing. It's a weird culture because it is so prevalent but then everybody bans together to literally beat up the thief...  When we were walking to find transportation home (the team from Senegal stole our bus!) There was mobs of people everywhere and Holly was trying to take a picture with her iphone and someone stole it right out of her hands!! The people around her tried to beat up the guy but he got away. It was crazy! We were all kind of weary about our stuff after that... It took us forever to find a taxi to take us home and it was just ridiculous and everyone was real hangry. We finally made it home though and was met by the glorious surprise that KJ had made no bake cookies! heaven. a little piece of heaven. 

Today the missionaries had 16 investigators at church! The work here is out of control! They do so much! We invited the elders over for dinner (well they kind of invited themselves by asking when we were having them over...) and made french toast. It was actually really fun. One of the elders dad died two weeks ago. It is so sad. He is the most awesome missionary. These guys are really good. You can just tell. We had a good time talking to them and getting to know their stories. The missionaries don't ever really get fed here because the people don't have enough for their families most days. It makes us feel like we should feed them, which i'm sure they would appreciate....

`

what a week!

On Tuesday we were all set to go up to Bunabuyoka. All we needed to do was stop by the hardware store first and buy all the stuff to build a clinic!! There were a million delays though and everything goes pretty slow in Uganda so we ended up not even leaving Mbale until 4 hrs after we were supposed to. At that point everyone was already a little frustrated and the 23 persons crammed in a 14 passenger van did not help the cause.... When we finally made it to the end of the road we had to wait for the truck with all the supplies so we could carry them the 20 minute footpath to Buna. While we waited we put on a little concert for the school kids there- not on purpose...we just started singing and then we had a ginormous crowd of kids!! It was so funny! We sang every song we all knew the words to which started with some Taylor Swift, went to Adele, then became primary songs, then Disney. It was pretty hilarious and the kids and everybody within distance was loving it- and believe me we did NOT sound good....

 credit to Josh for this picture

When the truck finally got there we had to unload it fast before it started raining! There was mainly 50 kilo cement bags...which is HEAVY. We could barely lift them between 2 of us using the good old fireman carry they taught us at girls camp... knew it would come in handy one day! We carried some of the lighter supplies to the village Monday night and watched slash tried to help but couldn't as the men literally dug a road to push the ginormous brick machine up the mountain to the village. It was crazy and awesome to see all the men working together so hard.... and bright side there is now a road to bunabuyoka!!! The government even came in and promised to improve it and put in real bridges (right now they are just trees split and laid across)

The next morning there was some confusion and frustration at first about the men and working and bringing the over 100lb bags up the mountain...we weren't sure how to get them up if the men didn't want to bring them up...like i said they are HEAVY. After a lot of sitting around and waiting everything worked out though and we were able to make a ton of bricks. We carried them one by one into the church to dry out... they were super fragile and would crumble in your hands if you touched it just wrong so that was a little frustrating too... but it was all good things because they are going to be able to build the wall of the clinic!! AND they were able to put the roof on the school!! The floor is still not done but they were using it for classes the very next day. If Buna needs one thing it is space!! They have so many needs and no where to implement education or health- hopefully by the time we leave they will be better off!

Yesterday I went with a small group to Kamankoli and Kakoli villages. This is where the pee project will be happening! I love these women! Earlier I referred to them as the AYE AYE AYE women and it is still true.. they are screamers haha. We are starting a 10 week program that will both enhance their agriculture along with giving them business skills to be able to market their product. I'm really excited about it. I think these women will be able to do great things. I brought up the urine fertilization to them and they didn't hate it! That's the first step! They aren't using any fertilizers or pesticides right now and they say their land is exhausted and their seeds are weak..hopefully we can help that! Even if it is really gross...

Yesterday was also bead day! We met with the ladies and showed them the two different sizes and gave them their homework assignments to make all the beads they need for their necklaces- which range from 11 to 730!! I think they are up to the challenge though. I was also able to take a few pictures of them and I'm excited to get to know their stories!

This weekend we are going to Kampala to see a world cup qualifying game it is Uganda vs Senegal. I'm pretty stoked!!

love these kids so much!

duncan n da nile...

Friday we left in a rush for a last minute rafting the nile trip! nbd. We should have known better - african time dictates that we had at least another hour before the bus left... we ended up waiting for quite awhile... after a 2 hr bus ride we made it to Jinja. The hostel was actually real nice- we had a rockin view of the nile and HOT SHOWERS. So good.

Saturday morning we got up early and were stoked to go rafting!! Well most of us were... I admit I was a little bit freaked at the idea of anacondas and crocodiles in the nile... but there was no way I was going to miss out. We watched a lady bungee jump before we went out and saw what we believed to be little crocodiles circling underneath her... freaked for the calm water for sure! When we met our raft guide he was a crack up. His name is Duncan and is a Brit from New Zealand. He was your typical dirty back packing slacking off for the summer, partying and rafting guide. Kept us laughing the whole time and even sang us the song from PS I Love You on request as we were going through the rapids- it was actually quite soothing! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLb213lak5s I'm sure he learned WAY more about us than he bargained for... I guess we aren't really used to being around too many boys... let's just say he learned about maria crying (one of  the funniest things we have heard in country- what girls say when they have their period)... We had such an awesome time rafting though! They were grade 4 and 5 rapids and we had a great time! In all the pictures I am goofy smiling the whole time. I was having such a blast. Surprisingly I was never scared in the rapids- it was only when we saw what we believed to be baby crocodiles in the flat pool we were in that I kinda freaked and started yelling FORWARD PADDLE!!! Duncan just laughed at me and then said they were actually just monitor lizards- which I googled and are just as terrifying! By the last rapid our team still hadn't flipped over or been thrown out really (josh fell out once) and we were kind of feeling cheated out of that experience! They had told us that the average person is thrown out 7 times! So Duncan came up with a plan to let us do something awesome on the last go. He said if we let out some of the air from the raft, we would have three options: 1. flip over right away 2. just go straight over the rapid (boring) 3. get stuck in the rapid and "surf around a bit"   we obviously voted for option 3. We did get stuck a bit but not too long. I held on for as long as I could- at first I thought I wasn't even going to fall out- and then the second wave hit and we went flying. There were paddles and body parts EVERYWHERE! I got stuck under the raft for a little bit but ironically I wasn't even scared. It was just like body surfing at pounders. I finally came up and saw the next wave- instinctively duck dived, and then popped out on the other side where I saw Sam and her bloody head! I was getting swept down the river though so the most I could do was yell to Duncan that she was bleeding- I guess she banged heads with someone in the chaos. It actually wasn't that bad- just looked a little scary. Duncan was really good and calm though and got her cleaned up. The safety boat that had been following us the whole time had tried to do some tricks in the rapids and ended up breaking everything! It was a good time though. 

After the rapids we went back and hung out at the hostel. We started talking to Duncan and another raft guide Jacob. They were def have a lot of fun at the bar... it was pretty hilarious though as we got good ol duncan donuts to sing to us more and ended up hanging upside down in a kayak that was strapped to the ceiling! I thought there was no way I was going to be able to get up there but lo and behold with a little assistance from Jacob it was pretty easy! We were all laughing so hard. Favorite quotes from that night "she's like a ninja!" "i'm not doing anything inappropriate just tucking your shirt in!" "i'm sorry i look like that! it's just my face!"

Today we were to region conference. As always it was pretty hard to understand- I don't know why but I only get 1 out of every 5 words over the pulpit.. It's terrible! The ward brought 5 taxis to Jinja so we just met them there and got a ride home with them. On the way home we stopped for.. that's right 3 weddings. Super random. I guess something to do with the government - people can only get married in certain buildings so there was 3 couples who had been waiting to get to Jinja so they could get married. Each ceremony lasted like 5 minutes. It was so different than any wedding I would imagine. We were also told that in Ugandan culture they don't kiss - not until about 30 yrs ago when they saw it on tv and even now it is still considered pretty scandalous- so that explained when the branch president told them to kiss the bride they got so awkward and the crowd went wild! 

Before the weddings though our friend Tyrel (the one who asked about how would you breast feed triplets) got his mission call! I think we were freaking out more than he was! It is just so awesome. He got baptized last year and is such a good guy! He is going to Ghana! He actually guessed it. It was the weirdest thing. Before he read the call we were all placing bets and he won! 

On the ride home Tyrel and Rebecca told us all about Ugandan dating it was hilarious to hear about. They have such different customs than us. Tyrel described to us what they call a "hell date" apparently it's when you take someone out on a date but they don't know it's a date haha..yeh I don't get it either.  It is good to be home though!

Moral of the story. I LOVE RAFTING.

 beautiful sunset on the nile

 I believe our team name was Search and Destroy! haha a Ugandan man named us...

Jennilyn, Jan, me, Cami, KJ, Kara, Sam, Ashley, Josh, Duncan

more pictures of the rafting:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151732313735417.852733.699820416&type=1

Oh update on the urine garden! We finally had enough pee to try it out... it was not the most pleasant experience.. that's for sure...We are trying it out but it looks much better in PDF form than in real life... so rank... yup that's a jug of Ryan's pee and i'm about to pour water in it...

 It smelled SO bad! Rebecca had to take over the pouring and Ryan could barely contain himself... 

Hopefully this makes out sprouts grow bigger!! Who would have thought i'd be into this project... so nast...